Colby Lewis Blanks White Sox, Earns First Career Shutout

Before the White Sox played the Tigers at U.S. Cellular today, Kenny Williams pulled off a trade to cut payroll and help the bullpen. The Sox traded pitcher Edwin Jackson and infielder Mark Teahen to the Toronto Blue Jays for Oak Forest native Jason Frasor and prospect Zach Stewart. The blue Jays then traded Jackson to St. Louis in a multi-player deal for Cody Rasmus. Jackson came to the Sox last year in a deal that sent high prospect Daniel Hudson to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Jackson was 7-7 with a 3.92 ERA and 97 strikeouts. Mark Teahen never really settled in with the Sox, having made several trips to the disabled list. He was batting only .209 with 3 homeruns and 11 RBIs.

These tough pitching arms have been backed by excellent defense this season. The Southsiders have quietly been the second best fielding team in the MLB.

Kuroda’s counterpart on the mound, sale jerseys, had turned in a very strong performance before leaving in that five-run eighth inning. The hard-throwing lefty was charged with three runs – two earned – on five hits and a walk in 7 1/3 innings. Sale struck out six Yankees on the evening.

The atmosphere at U.S. Cellular Field was electric, as a crowd of 40,354 rabid Sox fans dressed in black witnessed one of the most exciting games in Comiskey Park/U.S. Cellular Field history. The “blackout” was a success, as the Sox did what the University of Georgia could not do Saturday night.

Overall, these five players combined for 62% of the relief innings in 2010, but the damage done by other pitchers getting significant action was hard to overcome. Henry Rodriguez (4.55 ERA in 27 2/3 innings), Boof Bonser (5.09, 23), Tyson Ross (5.12, 31.2) and Chad Gaudin (8.83, 17.1) accounted for 23% of the relief innings last season, and when almost a quarter of your bullpen innings are that bad, it makes it hard for a team to stay in games when the offense isn’t playing well.

This ties in with arm strength, but could take longer to get back than his velocity. If Peavy’s arm is tiring after three or four innings going at full speed ahead (which, let’s be honest, is the only speed for him), then obviously he’ll need some time after the season starts to regain that stamina. If i had to guess, stamina would be the main reason why Peavy won’t be in the White Sox’s starting rotation in April-it’ll be the reason why he won’t be 100 percent until, say, early May.

I find it interesting to see that the 1921-22 New york Yankees made the list. When they acquired Babe Ruth from the Red Sox, a baseball fan’s first thought after all the home runs and the “House that Ruth Built” is that the Yankees immediately dominated major league baseball in the Roaring Twenties after that ill-fated trade by Boston.